How difficult is Quick speed?

[City Spammer]

Disclaimer, I'm a newbie and everything mentioned here is on Noble difficulty.
Am I wrong in thinking that quick speed is much more difficult/unbalanced than normal? Almost every single game has me begin in a great area, reach medieval era, build elephants + catapults + swordsmen, then get stuck in a long war of attrition with a weaker neighbor while everyone else eclipses me in tech. By the time I take a city or two the AI has already researched macemen and is melting my stacks.
I know the slower speeds are easier because you get more time to prepare and grow cities. I also think that unit healing times are the same across all game speeds, making armies much weaker in quick speed. The one play through I found on quick speed:

had a very rushed early game and still ended up losing to a cultural victory.
I tend to prefer to play quick speeds because I don't really have that much time. But then I've never won a game on quick so maybe normal would've been a better choice.

 

[lymond]

Welcome to CFC!!!

Quick Speed is generally considered more difficult, primarily as you have far less wiggle room for mistakes. Still, games on Noble level still should be easily winnable for players with a bit of experience. I understand you are new to the game so just a few basics should improve your game on any level. Civ 4 is a challenging and deeply strategic game and that challenge scales with difficulty. Noble level is essentially the "neutral" level, where both AIs and the player get no bonuses/maluses. It is quite an easy level once you get a few games under your belt and grab some advice here on the forum.

I encourage you to play at normal speed for now (really all normal settings like map size and also no huts/events), regardless of your time constraints. Take the game in parts, focusing on learning key concepts, with less focus on victory conditions. For example, at normal speed, focus on the first 50 to 100 turns of the game, or up to like 1AD. Set certain benchmarks to achieve during the early parts of the game (which is the most important part of the game). The good forum members here will help you with basic concepts to jumpstart your game.

Please check out the Strategy & Tips Forum. This forum is best for getting advice about the game. A common learning method is to post "shadow games" over there that you play slowly while getting advice from folks. Really the best way to learn. Youtube Let's Plays are very good too, but most players like AZ above and others play at very high levels like Deity which involve some quite advanced strategies which don't always translate well to the lower levels.

 

[City Spammer]

Thanks for the tips!
I definitely noticed how little wiggle room quick speed gives. It kinda sucks to hear the Noble games are still winnable, since I'm rather good at Civ 5 and have some experience micromanaging there. Maybe because Civ 5 has a more simplified tech tree making science easier.
I'm just a bit surprised by how easy it is to get trapped into an endless stalemate even with an inferior opponent. I'm rather stubborn in pursuing a military victory, even when I know a cultural/space race is easier on quick speed. Or maybe i'm just too new and should start a normal speed instead.

 

[AcaMetis]

Civ IV is all about snowballing early advantages, making the first set of turns the most critical. If you can play a solid first 100 turns on Normal speed you'll improve your game substantially, more so than playing out full games on quick speed.

 

[lymond]

Thanks for the tips!
I definitely noticed how little wiggle room quick speed gives. It kinda sucks to hear the Noble games are still winnable, since I'm rather good at Civ 5 and have some experience micromanaging there. Maybe because Civ 5 has a more simplified tech tree making science easier.
I'm just a bit surprised by how easy it is to get trapped into an endless stalemate even with an inferior opponent. I'm rather stubborn in pursuing a military victory, even when I know a cultural/space race is easier on quick speed. Or maybe i'm just too new and should start a normal speed instead.

Civ 5 is not even remotely comparable to Civ 4. You really need to "learn" Civ 4, and the best way is as I mentioned above. Definitely don't get bogged down by trying to apply any Civ 5 strategies to Civ 4 - really completely different games and 4 is far more complex.

Start a shadow game in S&T as I pointed out and you will at least master Noble difficulty pretty quick, and probably at least move up to Monarch level in no time. And yes, I highly recommend playing normal speed and maps. Focus on mini-games first (within a game) like just playing the first 50 to 100 turns until you get the basic concepts of the early game - it is just so important.

Basically, when it comes to learning, it's better not to get silly with settings. I recommend the following:

Speed: Normal
Map Size: Normal
Map: Pangaea (I recommend this map as it will allow newer players to incorporate a lot of important early game mechanics without having to worry about more complex things like naval stuff)
Options: No Huts/No Events - everything else defaults
Leader: Does not really matter, but I like Washington as he is a good neutral leader with solid traits, that are mostly passive, and very late uniques

You will benefit so much more from playing a game with the folks here on normal settings than tooling around with quick speed on your own. (No one I know of plays quick speed, and the difference in game length from normal speed is marginal)

 

[Fippy]

@drewisfat prolly has some tips for quick speed, i remember he played it quiet a bit.
One that i can remember: mounted units become even more powerful, moving 2 tiles per turn (if possible) is very valuable when turns fly by faster.
While on marathon i.e. siege are really good as you have so much time and just want solid attacking with few losses.

 

[City Spammer]

@drewisfat prolly has some tips for quick speed, i remember he played it quiet a bit.
One that i can remember: mounted units become even more powerful, moving 2 tiles per turn (if possible) is very valuable when turns fly by faster.
While on marathon i.e. siege are really good as you have so much time and just want solid attacking with few losses.

That is absolutely correct. Horse archers were the only thing that really able to make it in time to reinforce the stack. A couple at the back to harass any enemy reinforcements and have some spearmen and axemen protecting the siege units. Cuirassiers, if I ever make it there, were the main component of my army until riflemen.

 

[Qactus]

Never played that much on Quick, but wanted to add that it makes India's Fast Workers shine even more